My Search for Freedom from Dieting

It’s been just over a week since ending our Whole30 and I decided to look at the list of benefits that Whole30 provided me with to look at Non-Scale Victories. Before I start looking at their list and seeing what Non-Scale Victories I can see and feel, I did have a scale victory of being down 10 lbs when I weighed myself at the end of the 30 (or in our case 31) days. I felt that was a good drop in pounds, not too may too fast.

Onto Non-Scale Victories. Whole30 provides a list of over 100 Non-Scale Victories, a lot of which are health related, and quite honestly I didn’t have problems with before, so I’ll note here only those where I see a difference (both positive and negatives).

On my Physical Outside – Leaner appearance, clothes fitting better, wedding ring fitting better, less bloating, and feeling more confident in my appearance. The downside as I noted here is that my nails still are not the best and my joints don’t seem to be less mobile. In fact my “carpal tunnel” is worse than ever. But are these downsides because of my eating habits I don’t know. The joint issue could be because of having a lot of excess weight on my frame for more years than I care to think about and the damage is already done.

On my Physical Inside – Less bloating, less acid reflux, improved blood sugar regulation and hopefully better cholesterol and high blood pressure numbers (don’t know those results yet). Again I have not noticed less knee/joint pain and my carpal tunnel has gotten worse ( and again my have nothing to do with diet).

Mood, Emotion and Psychology– Happier, more optimistic, less anxious, less stressed, fewer sugar cravings, fewer carb cravings, improved body image, less reliance on the scale and feeling more in control of your food. All good things.

Food and Behaviors – Healthier relationship with food, practicing mindful eating, reading all labels, eating to satiety, abandoned crazy diets, no longer a slave to sugar/carbs (I hope this one lasts), fewer cravings, and more nutrition in your diet. The biggest gain here for me is being mindful of what I am putting into my mouth.

Sleep – I have been sleeping more soundly and deeply, but is that really good. Deep REM sleep should be followed by light sleep in a type of cycle – cycling through both every hour or so. But for me recently it has been more REM sleep up front and then some cycling through the end of my time asleep. My sleep app doesn’t really like this.

Energy– My energy levels are definitely higher. I have not more mid-day energy slump and I feel like I am getting more done at work and at home. I definitely need less sugar to keep my energy up.

Lifestyle and Social – learned more about nutrition. I continued to shop locally and to eat seasonally. Meal prep was more organized and efficient. Surprisingly, doing the Whole30 has resulted in bringing my husband and I closer. We eat breakfast and dinner together much more often and at the kitchen table instead of in front of the TV.

Overall it was a good experience. Will I do it again – pretty sure I will, looking at doing one this winter.

If you’ve done a Whole30 let me know what your experience was with it.